A Normal Life, Part 2
by AniMajor
Summary: Just when they thought it was a great discovery...


Daniel sat in his room. It was ten-thirty, way past his bedtime at eight. He still had a mystery to solve. He'd looked on maps, and in countless books. What was the answer? He thought of the scrawlings he made. What did they all mean? 

Around eleven his parents got home. They expected him to be asleep, so he clicked off his desk lamp and crawled into bed. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)--(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* 

Sam looked at the artifact. She could place a few symbols, but the rest was Greek to her. And it was. Eh, Daniel could figure it out, hopefully. There was something about these ancient scribblings that had meant something. Something that compelled her to invite Jack, Janet, and Daniel over. Sure, Janet and Daniel would come anyway, but there was a more dominant reason. 

One of the symbols was a circle, but of what? The circle of life? Power? Professional Psychics? Maybe it meant "sun." This was to confusing. Daniel would know. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)--(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* 

"Jonathan! Go to bed!" His mother called. 

"I'm almost done!" He called back. He had almost completed this level on Duke Nukem: Zero Hour. He quickly saved it to the controller pack and turned the game and TV. 

He went upstairs and got ready for bed, brushing his teeth, et cetera. He got back to his room, and his phone rang. "Hello?" He answered. 

"Is this Jonathan O' Neil" 

"Yes." 

"This is Captain Jones of the United States Air Force, "He identified himself. "I believe you have something of ours." 

"Like what?" He thought, this is getting so freaked up. 

"Like the tablet you found." Were they watching? How'd they know about the tablet? Why would the want it anyway? 

He'd promised that he wouldn't tell. He'd promised to a beautiful girl that he wouldn't tell. "I don't have a tablet. I don't know where a tablet is. I'm not even sure what a tablet is." 

"Are you absolutely sure?" 

"Yes, I am ab-solutet-ly sure." 

He hung up. "Not even a good bye?" Jack whispered to himself. 

Hmm… this was getting suspicious. The tablet gets found in Daniel's backyard, it has something with "Heaven's Gate to the stars" written on it, and then the Air Force calls up asking for it. What was so dang important with this tablet? 

The phone rang again. 

"Go to bed!" 

Jack picked it up. "Hello?" 

"Jack?" 

"Yes?" 

"This is Sam-" 

"I am?" Jack suggested. 

"Ha, ha. We've got a problem." 

"Someone's after the tablet." He said before she had a chance. 

"How'd you know?" 

"The Air Force called." 

"Yeah, they called me, too. But why?" 

"Go to bed!" Jack's mom called. 

"I don't know. Hey, can we talk about this tomorrow? I gotta go." 

"Sure, see ya." 

"Yeah, bye." 

They hung up. 

His first call, well, that wasn't insulting from a girl. He went to bed, smiling. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)--(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* 

"Janet?" 

"Uh, yeah, okay." Her mind was on other things. She took the front anyway. "Well, as you know, there's a dance coming up. It's the spring Dance, and I was thinking of an Easter theme. Nothing religious, just bunnies and carrots, and stuff like that. We could decorate the cafeteria with pastel colors and have an Easter egg hunt. Even though many of us have out grown it, I think it would be fun, and the littler kids might enjoy it. It's time we did something for the little kids." She thought of Daniel. 

"All agreed?" The SDGC (Student Democratic Government Council) teacher asked. 

"Agreed." The vote was unanimous. 

When Janet was elected, she knew her power of decorating dances and going on field trips wasn't much. Well, at least she got out of class. And was heard among fellow students. Hmm, maybe it wasn't that bad after all. 

The meeting went on. There were discussions on what to do for the next meeting, up coming field trips, and what food to serve at the dance. 

After the meeting, Janet carpooled home. The phone rang when she got there, but she just let the answering machine get it. She was too tired, so she went to bed. *~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~)--(~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~* 

Come on clock, just ten more minutes, Jack pleaded, wanting his freedom. Just nine more. Just eight more. Just seven. Six. Five. Four. Three. Two. One more minute, you stupid clock. One more minute and I'll be free. I demand freedom, clock. Freedom! 

As if the clock heard him, the bell rang. "Yes!" He triumphed, no longer bound by law to his desk. 

Jack walked to Sam's house, with Janet far ahead. Jack walked through the alley with Daniel, even though Jack had advised against it. Daniel said to go on ahead, despite Jack's warnings. 

Nelson, as always, seemed to know when Daniel was alone. Daniel was ready this time. He sat in the alley. He pretended to read a book on hieroglyphics. Nelson came up to harass him. 

"Hey pip squeak, decided to wait for your torture?" 

"Go away!" Daniel said in a six-year-old way. 

"Ha, ha, ha, you little runt. You think I'd leave 'cause you said?" Even so, he was taken aback by Daniel's words. 

"Leave me alone!" Daniel gathered all his courage. He reached in his backpack. 

"Why should I, runt? You gonna hurt me?" Nelson was alone, which made Daniel's job easier. 

"Um, uh, " Daniel stuttered. He quickly reached into his bag and grabbed the water gun. He fired the pressurized cannon at Nelson. Daniel bolted out of the alley to Sam's house. 

Nelson stumbled back, but then chased after Daniel. 

Daniel had finally gotten his revenge, and it was great! Nelson had gotten his just desserts, and the torment, hopefully, was over. And, with that behind him, and Nelson, too, he ran to Sam's house, hoping he would die by the hand of Nelson. 

"Good job, Danny!" Jack yelled as Daniel blew past. He'd seen the dripping water gun and known what Daniel had done. 

Daniel quickly looked back to see if Nelson was still following, but all he saw was Jack walking towards him. 

Sam and Janet were talking on the porch. When they saw Daniel, the both asked the same question: "What happened!" But when they saw the water gun, they both knew. 

"Daniel!" Janet practically screamed. She knew it was brave, and it served Nelson right, but Daniel knew better. "Daniel, what did you do?" She wanted to hear Daniel's side of the story. 

"Well…" Daniel started. 

"Daniel," Sam said darkly. 

Suddenly, he was very scared. "Well, I decided to get even with Nelson, so I did." That was very un-Daniel-like. 

They were going to say something more, but Jack came running up, waving his arms and shouting, "Hey!" 

"What's up with him?" Sam asked. 

"I don't know." 

"Hey! Hey! Did someone forget me?" Jack shouted, still out of normal talking range. 

"We're trying!" Sam shouted. Janet and her laughed. 

Jack slowed down when he reached the hguse and walked up the path. "Okay, let's get this party started. 

"Okay, Jack, like to start?" Sam smiled. 

"What? Oh, yeah, right. Well, it seems we have some fans of our rock-" 

"-Artifact," Daniel said softly. 

"Yeah, well, anyway, they must need it for something important, or they wouldn't want it." 

"Wait a sec, who are these people?" Janet asked. 

"The Air Force," I said plainly. 

"What?" She practically jumped out of her chair. "Why the Air Force? What could they possible want with a rock?" 

"Artifact." 

"I don't know, but it's probaly top secret, whatever it is." 

"They're not getting it. Mine." Despite his intelligence, he still had a sense of mine. 

"No, Daniel, they're not getting it." Sam said flatly. She whispered something to Daniel, and he took into the house, slamming two doors behind him. 

"What'd you say?" Jack wondered. 

"I asked him about his translations." 

"Oh." 

The conversation stopped there. They sat for a few moments, looking around, finding something interesting on the ground, the chair, or in the trees. 

"So," Jack said. Sam and Janet looked at him like he had something important to say. "Is one of you single?" 


End file.
